Recipes

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Kerala Kadala Curry

Both Pras and I are morning people and so I'm always on the lookout for quickie breakfast recipes. I believe breakfast is a very important part of the day and should not be missed. Back in India, it was easier to manage breakfast with idlis, dosas, bread, cereal, oats and the occasional parathas on a weekday. Here, in Auckland, the idli and dosa batter is not available ubiquitously, the breads is quite different from what we get in India and hence the hunt for breakfast recipes is on.
Many people told me about the breakfast biscuits but nah, they aren't to our liking. For a while I made rawa dosas and ran out of rawa/semolina. It takes some planning to get to the other side of town to purchase "Indian" groceries from the Indian supermarkets.

Anyhow, I decided to experiment and made this kadala curry to be served with thai rice noodles as a replacement for idiyappam. Except for the little bite to the noodles, it went quite well. So here's a big tick to this breakfast item.

Kadala curry is mainly made of chickpeas which are a high source of proteins. Since this recipe calls for the use of a pressure cooker as well as not discarding any of the water used, you should get the full benefits of the protein content. Serving this as an accompaniment to a rice based dish makes it a source of carbohydrates as well.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes if using store bought coconut milk, excluding time to soak the chickpeasCooking Time : 30-40 minutes

Ingredients (Serves 4):

1 cup black/dark chickpeas/kadala - washed and left to soak in water overnight

1 bay leaf

1 stick of cinnamon

Water to boil the chickpeas

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

1 medium sized onion chopped as finely as you can, need to go to extraordinary lengths

2 green chillis - slit

Thick Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

A pinch of asafoetida

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a stick or two

mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - 1tbsp

How I made it :

In a pressure cooker, put in all ingredients from 1 to 6. The water level should be about 1 inch above the chickpeas.

Cook on high for one whistle and then low for 4 whistles.

While the pressure releases, in another pan, heat 1 tbsp oil

Once the oil is hot, put in the mustard seeds and cover till the mustard seeds stop spluttering.